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Haptik co-founder Aakrit Vaish and Together Fund’s Pratyush Choudhury launch $75 Mn AI fund

EntrackrEntrackr · 48m ago
Haptik co-founder Aakrit Vaish and Together Fund’s Pratyush Choudhury launch $75 Mn AI fund
Medial

Haptik co-founder Aakrit Vaish and Together Fund’s Pratyush Choudhury launch $75 Mn AI fund Aakrit Vaish, co-founder of Haptik, and Pratyush Choudhury, former principal at Together Fund, have launched Activate, a $75 million venture fund that will back early-stage AI founders in India. Vaish announced the launch on X. The fund will invest between $500 K and $3 million in companies at inception, including those at the ideation stage. Activate has brought together a global group of limited partners that includes Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity, Ashish Vaswani of Essential AI, Dhaval Shroff from the Tesla AI team, Manohar Paluri of Meta, Ramesh Raskar of MIT Media Lab, Shyamal Anadkat of OpenAI, Shailendra Singh of Peak XV, Srikanth Velamakanni of Fractal, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, and Vishal Misra of Columbia University, among other AI-focused leaders. The founders said the LP network will give Activate portfolio companies access to guidance across AI research, infrastructure, and global expansion. Activate’s model is based on four principles which are rapid product iteration, deep technical expertise, strong product judgment, and close founder support. Activate has already started making its first set of investments. Before creating the fund, Vaish and Choudhury invested as angels in companies such as Composio, Sri Mandir, Spry, ZuAI, Emergent, Park Plus, Rapidclaims, and Spendflo. Vaish earlier founded Haptik which was acquired by Reliance Jio in 2019. Choudhury previously worked at AWS and has been active in the GenAI community across the Asia Pacific region.

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Scrut Automation kicks off Series A round with $9 Mn

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Scrut Automation kicks off Series A round with $9 Mn
Medial

Risk-focused compliance automation platform Scrut Automation has raised Rs 75 crore or $9 million in its series A round from existing investors. The round also saw the participation of Lightspeed Partners, MassMutual Ventures, and Endiya Partners. The board at Scrut Automation has passed a special resolution to issue 4,977 Series A CCPS at an issue price of Rs 1,50,188 each to raise Rs 75 crore or $9 million, its regulatory filing sourced from the Registrar of Companies shows. Lightspeed India and MassMutual Ventures pumped in Rs 41.5 crore and Rs 24.9 crore, respectively, while the rest of the amount came from Endiya during the round. As per startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, the company has been valued at around Rs 615 crore or $75 million post-allotment. Scrut Automation has secured over $20 million to date. As per TheKredible, Lightspeed India is the largest shareholder in the startup with a 20.74% stake followed by Endiya Partners and MassMutual Investors with 15.34% and 12.55% shares, respectively. Its co-founders Ayush Ghosh Choudhury, Jayesh Gadewar, and Kush Kaushik cumulatively own 38% of the company. Founded in 2020, Scrut streamlines numerous labor-intensive compliance tasks through integration with cloud and SaaS tools. It gathers hundreds of evidence artifacts automatically and helps monitor entity-level risks and controls from a single dashboard. It supports 15 compliances including risk management, vendor risk, policy, continuous compliance, evidence collection, access control, and others. It partnered with 20 auditors and has a presence in more than 25 countries. During the fiscal year that ended March 2023, its revenue from operations was recorded at Rs 7.24 crore, rising from Rs 44 lakh in FY22. The Bengaluru-based company also posted a loss of Rs 15.40 crore in the same period.

Phot.AI raises $2.7 Mn to automate e-commerce creative design

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Phot.AI raises $2.7 Mn to automate e-commerce creative design
Medial

Phot.AI, an AI-driven creative automation platform, has secured $2.7 million in a seed funding round led by Info Edge Ventures, with participation from Together Fund and AC Ventures. The funds will be used to expand the team, invest in R&D, and launch the much-awaited copilot. Phot.AI was co-founded in 2023 by Venus Dhuria, Aneesh Rayancha, and Akshit Raja, who previously built AppyHigh. Phot.AI automates creative design and marketplace listings for e-commerce, brands, and retail by using AI agents that learn which designs perform best. The platform reduces manual effort and costs by up to 80% and enables A/B testing of creatives, boosting conversions by 40%. Phot.AI supports product photography, image enhancement, and batch processing using Generative AI, with over 3 million sign-ups pre-launch.

Aerospace startup Sarla Aviation raises $10 Mn led by Accel

EntrackrEntrackr · 10m ago
Aerospace startup Sarla Aviation raises $10 Mn led by Accel
Medial

Sarla Aviation, an aerospace startup developing electric aircraft for flying taxis, has secured $10 million in funding, led by Accel. Angel investors, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, and Swiggy’s Sriharsha Majety, also participated in the round. Sarla Aviation intends to utilize the funds to establish a research and development center in Bengaluru. The company also plans to launch its flying taxis by 2028. Founded in 2024 by Adrian Schmidt, Rakesh Gaonkar, and Shivam Chauhan, the company is preparing to debut its first prototype, named Shunya, on January 17 at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in New Delhi. The aircraft is built to carry up to 680 kilograms and accommodate six passengers, in addition to the pilot. Last year, Sarla Aviation partnered with Bengaluru International Airport to prepare for the rollout of its flying taxi service. The development follows Accel's launch of a $650 million eighth fund to support early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia, focusing on enterprise AI, consumer services, fintech, and manufacturing.

Udaan raises $75 Mn at flat valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Udaan raises $75 Mn at flat valuation
Medial

Udaan raises $75 Mn at flat valuation B2B e-commerce platform Udaan has raised $75 million in a Series G equity funding round at a flat valuation, as announced by the company’s co-founder and CEO, Vaibhav Gupta, during a town hall today. Sources assert that the company has been valued in the range of $1.5 to $1.8 billion in this round. According to sources, Udaan plans to use the funds to uplift customer experience, expand market reach, strengthen strategic vendor partnerships, and beef up supply chain and credit infrastructure. Last month, Udaan received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to merge its various business entities into a unified entity, Hiveloop Ecommerce Pvt Ltd. This consolidation marks a significant milestone in its journey toward becoming a publicly listed company. In October 2024, Udaan secured Rs 300 crore (over $35 million) in debt funding from Lighthouse Canton, Stride Ventures, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital. The company has raised around $1.9 billion in debt and equity funding to date. Udaan’s gross revenue (GMV) grew only 1.7% to Rs 5,706.6 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024 in contrast to Rs 5,609.3 crore booked in FY23. However, it managed to control its losses by 19.4% to Rs 1,674.1 crore in the same period.

Exclusive: Salesforce Venture to lead $15 Mn in app builder Rocket.new

EntrackrEntrackr · 2m ago
Exclusive: Salesforce Venture to lead $15 Mn in app builder Rocket.new
Medial

url: https://entrackr.com/exclusive/exclusive-salesforce-venture-to-lead-15-mn-in-app-builder-rocketnew-10068354 Content: Mobile app builder Rocket.new (formerly Dhiwise) is set to raise Rs 131.4 crore or $15 million in its extended Series A round led by Salesforce Ventures and existing investors Accel and Together Fund. This marks the first significant funding for the four-year-old company in three years since it raised $7 million in August 2022. According to its filing with the Registrar of Companies, Rocket.new’s board approved issuing 4,81,718 Series A1 CCPS at Rs 2,728 each to raise the specified amount. Salesforce Ventures will lead the round with an investment of Rs 74.46 crore ($8.46 million), with Accel and Together Fund also partaking in the funding. The company plans to utilize the proceeds for growth, expansion, and working capital needs. Entrackr estimates that the Surat-based company’s valuation will more than double to Rs 545 crore ($62 million) from its previous valuation of Rs 256 crore in its last funding round. Post allotment, Accel will become the largest external shareholder, holding an 18.87% stake, with Salesforce Ventures at 13.68% and Together Fund at 5.62%. Co-founders Vishal Virani and Rahul Shingala will maintain a collective 36% stake in the company. Founded in 2021 by Vishal Virani and Rahul Shingala, Rocket.new is an AI-powered no-code/low-code platform enabling users to build and launch apps, websites, and tools from simple prompts or designs. The company, according to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, raised over $9.5 million previously from investors like Accel, India Quotient, Together Fund, and Dholakia Ventures. Rocket.new reported Rs 3.5 crore in revenue for FY24, with losses increasing by 46% to Rs 11 crore, as per its standalone financials filed with the RoC.

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